The commemoration of the peaceful revolution goes hand in hand with the creation of places of remembrance. Since 1999, at the latest, the city of Leipzig has consciously supported the remembrance of the peaceful revolution by connecting a lively memorial culture with a visible anchoring of this culture in the city’s public spaces. Especially in the spaces surrounding the actual locations where the peaceful revolution took place, newly-created, space-specific monuments attest to the important events of 1989:

• Freedom Bell
  
• Light Installation and Fountain at the Nikolai Church
  
• Memorial Plaque “National Security”
  
• Nikolai Column
  
• Places of the peaceful revolution
  

The 9th of October holds a key place as the decisive day for the peaceful revolution. The peaceful march of 70,000 demonstrators from Leipzig and all of middle Germany which faced up to the enormous threat posed by the state’s forces and represents the turning point in events taking place in the autumn of 1989. The city of Leipzig has now declared, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary, the 9th of October an official, annual day of remembrance. This is not meant to be a historicization of remembrance but rather to strengthen its place as a “day of freedom” in the consciousness of the city and to act as an impulse for important future-shaping events to come.

The initiative “Day of the Peaceful Revolution – Leipzig 9th October” created “40 + 20 = 60 Years of The Federal Republic” in 2007. This has since been signed by personalities from political, business and cultural sectors. The initiative has used this concise and direct formula to attract attention to the fact that the last 60 years of German national history is actually one of 40 years having 2 separate states and 20 years of unity. The peaceful revolution created the necessary conditions not only for the reunification but also for Germany’s definitive return as an equal partner on the European stage.

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the 4th of September, 1989 - the day on which the participants of the prayers for peace at the Nikolai church took their protest onto the street – the initiative “Day of the Peaceful Revolution – Leipzig 9th October” has published its “Leipziger Theses”. Within, they call for a discussion of both totalitarian dictatorships in Germany and represent the opinion that both Germany’s constitutional law and the peaceful revolution belong to the “master stories” of Germany and that they are a considerable part of the republic’s political consciousness.

The people of Leipzig began, already in the years directly following 1989, to celebrate the events of the 9th of October in manifold fashion: with the traditional prayer for peace in the Nikolai church, rallies at the Augustusplatz, street music, citizen forums, concerts and a public city hall.

• Event Offerings
  
• Focusing and Institutionalization
  
• Stiftung Friedliche Revolution (Peaceful Revolution Foundation)
  

• Leipzig Calling
  
• Leipziger Theses